The ugly truth at the heart of TikTok’s viral morning shed trend

The next big thing in beauty is Hannibal Lecter. If you don’t believe me – and yes, I do mean the cannibalistic serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs – take one look at TikTok’s viral #morningshed trend and you’ll find yourself quickly questioning whether the world has gone mad, thanks to the millions (and yes, we’re talking millions) of videos of women talking their followers through multi-step night-time beauty routines as they peel off each increasingly ludicrous layer after waking up. Think 12-step Korean skincare regimes on acid. Or, like, really expensive onions.

As for the layers themselves, it’s almost hard to know where to start. Perhaps with the chin straps said to reduce the mobility of your mouth while you sleep, which is supposedly meant to reduce snoring while also giving you a slimmer jawline. Never mind that these are contraptions intended to help surgical patients recover from operations, or that they make you look like you belong in a high-security prison. If it makes your face slimmer, well, that’s all people care about.

Next up is the equally chilling – and much maligned – mouth tape, a trend that claims to optimise nasal breathing and increase sleep quality, as well as boosting energy levels and tightening the jawline. However, it could also obstruct breathing, worsen the symptoms of sleep apnoea, and create irritation around your lips. On top of this, most morning shedders are also equipped with under-eye masks (self-explanatory), lip stain, heatless curlers, hair nets, lash serum, and slimy, slippery collagen facemasks that must feel like sleeping with an eel on your face.

For those on the extreme end (because it wasn’t extreme enough already), there are also castor-oil stomach wraps to reduce bloating, eye tape to, erm, keep your eyes closed when you sleep (I think), and some sort of neck sticker I genuinely can’t find a legitimate explanation for. “The uglier you go to bed, the prettier you wake up” is a mantra you frequently hear accompanying these clips, often against the backdrop of some viral TikTok tune like “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish.

The trend began last summer and has escalated ever since, with content creators consistently outdoing one another by adding more and more steps to their routines. At first, I was defensive: why should we criticise women for going to drastic lengths to maintain beauty standards set for them by the male gaze? Aren’t we all facing the same pressures? And so what if it’s a bit absurd; if it makes the women happy, and feel more confident in their own skin, who are we to poke fun?

The hypocrisy is right up there with when men evangelise about the “natural” look (which is never actually natural) but criticise women for wearing “too much” makeup. How dare they have the audacity to try to conform to an aesthetic that’s not only expected of them but practically demanded? We’re damned if we wear too much makeup, and damned if we don’t wear enough. I can’t bear it.

But something about the morning shed feels different, darker, and more dystopian. First, there’s the fact that to maintain a routine like this requires inordinate amounts of time, both during the application stage in the evening and also in the morning “shed” phase. There’s a very limited number of women who can squeeze this in, and I doubt many of them are mothers or working full-time jobs.

Then there’s the financial burden: many of the treatments that feature in these morning shed routine videos are one-use only. Does that mean these women are spending upwards of £20 a day on collagen sheet masks? Not to mention the cost of all the copious serums and creams the women wind up lathering their skin in after they’ve peeled off each of their night-time accessories.

Most of all, though, is the underlying question at the core of this trend: is any of it actually worth doing? “Good quality sleep is vital for skin health, as it’s the time when our skin regenerates, with increased blood flow, improved collagen production and cell renewal,” explain Drs Dan Marsh and Mo Akhavani, founders of the Plastic Surgery Group. “If you’re going to bed with all these things on your face, you’re unlikely to be getting as good a night’s sleep as you would normally, which would arguably have more of a positive impact on your skin health and cell regeneration.”

Some masks might work well for the skin. But you have to be careful about lathering yourself up with too many products. “Transepidermal water loss is greater overnight, and so an occlusive overnight mask can help to reduce the water loss, helping skin to stay hydrated,” add Marsh and Akhavani. “However, slathering on thick layers of a product that isn’t designed to be worn in this way can make skin more prone to clogged pores, breakouts and irritation.”

It’s also worth taking any skincare advice from social media with a heavy pinch of salt. We all have different skin types and will react differently to different products. “Overuse of occlusive masks, or combining acids with retinoids, may disrupt the skin barrier, causing irritation, breakouts, or allergic reactions,” says Dr Vincent Wong, a leading aesthetics doctor.

As for chin straps, the jury is out on whether wearing them will actually make much of a difference to how you look. “Chin straps may provide some temporary benefits, but there is little evidence to suggest that they can provide any long-term improvements,” says Dr Leah Totton, founder of Dr Leah Skin Clinics. “They may work to reduce puffiness, and will compress the facial tissue, which will give the short-term appearance of a tighter jawline and reduced sagging, however this effect tends to be very short-lived, lasting no more than a few hours.”

Mouth taping has been debunked, too, with one study from 2024 published in the American Journal of Otolaryngology noting that while it may help with snoring and ventilation, most of the claims made on TikTok about its aesthetic benefits are not supported by scientific literature.

“These trends highlight how social media pressures people to chase complicated, often unrealistic beauty routines,” adds Dr Wong. “The idea that more effort and more products automatically mean better skin sets impossible standards. Healthy skin develops gradually with simple, evidence-based care tailored to individual needs, not through complexity or extremes.”

Indeed, the best things you can do for your skin are often the most simple and should take the least amount of time, money, and energy.

“The most important thing for skin health is to do the basics properly, which means obtaining adequate sleep, not smoking, avoiding UV light and wearing SPF, eating a balanced diet rich in vitamins and nutrients, and combining that with a lifestyle that involves exercise and hydration,” say Marsh and Akhavani. “These are far more important than overnight face-taping, chin straps and layers of products.

“For evidence-based and medically backed skincare treatments with proven results, it’s vital to seek the advice of a qualified and experienced practitioner rather than seeking guidance online.”

There’s now a surefire way to defeat ‘left-wing’ Nigel Farage

If people are forced to choose, they are more likely to say that Nigel Farage is “for working people” than Keir Starmer is. This probably reflects the prime minister’s unpopularity more than it is a positive endorsement of the Reform leader, but opinion poll findings such as this encouraged Farage to make his pitch for Labour votes.

His starting point was that the Conservatives are “finished”, “done” and “have had a good 200 years”: he is now squaring up to Labour.

Farage said that Starmer was “terrified” of what Reform was doing to the Labour vote, and that was why the prime minister was aping him.

It was a typical Farage performance – except that there was no crowd of enthusiastic supporters to cheer his well-rehearsed applause lines. He is an energetic speaker, able to carry an imaginary mass rally, even if the only people there were Zia Yusuf, the Reform chair, and Sarah Pochin, the party’s newest MP, sitting mutely on stage facing a silent audience of mostly journalists.

Farage contrasted his “passion” with Starmer’s stiffness, noting that the prime minister, when he won the election and addressed the nation from the door of No 10, looked down at his notes 158 times when he might be expected to know what he wanted to say.

“What I bring to this now is experience, passion and courage,” Farage said modestly. But his is a pitch that suggests he has thought more deeply about how to fight Labour than some in Labour have thought about how to fight him.

Before Farage’s speech, the Labour Party line to take was that he is a privately educated stockbroker who should not be taken seriously. This is disastrously misjudged. No one cares what school he went to, or what his job was before politics – he was actually a metals trader in the City.

If Labour try to portray him as posh and out of touch, they will fail, because voters are more likely to see Starmer, with his knighthood, as a member of the establishment. If they make it about personality, they will fail.

That is why Farage said of Starmer, “This man doesn’t believe in anything.” Farage contrasted Starmer, who is in politics to “be something”, namely prime minister, with his own desire to “do something”, namely to “turn the country around”.

Many Labour supporters dislike Farage so much that they cannot see clearly how to fight him. They have no idea how effective his pitch is, and how unpopular Starmer is.

The centrepiece of today’s pitch for Labour votes was Farage’s counterintuitive call to lift the two-child limit on welfare benefits. On this, he is aligned with rebellious Labour MPs and – according to superficial polls, at least – on the wrong side of public opinion.

The popularity of the two-child limit, brought in by George Osborne, prompted a Farage digression: “I have never been a populist politician; I’ve nearly always spent my career pushing minority opinions and trying to make them majority opinions.”

It is a clever line, but the danger to Labour is that he and his policies are more popular than the government’s policies and the prime minister.

When scrapping the two-child limit is rephrased as backing the family and supporting low-paid workers on universal credit – “it would make having children a little bit easier for them”, Farage said – it is much more popular. Combined with a tax break for marriage, the “family, community and country” line is a threat to Labour.

The key to defeating Farage is to be found in another opinion poll published today, from YouGov, which found that when people are asked to choose between Starmer and Farage as prime minister, they prefer Starmer by a significant margin, 44 per cent to 29 per cent.

So, although Farage beats Starmer on important qualities – “strong”, “tells the truth”, “understands people like me” – people struggle to see him as prime minister. Labour needs to attack him on that. That is why Farage was stressing his “experience” today, even if his experience is mainly of blowing up one party after another.

Starmer needs to hammer Farage on his fantasy budgeting; journalists were not buying any of it today, and rightly so. Reform’s figures at the election last year did not add up, and now Farage has casually added to them the £3.5bn-a-year cost of lifting the two-child limit.

He does not believe the numbers he read out at his news conference, as the annual saving from abolishing net zero rose from £40bn to £45bn between his prepared notes and his answers to questions. His figures were, he said, “maybe I accept slightly optimistic”.

Labour needs to remind voters that Farage welcomed Liz Truss’s mini-Budget as the “best Conservative Budget since 1986”, and use that to set out what he really is, which is a Thatcherite. Paying benefits to families with three or more children is not really him: the real Farage thinks the state should do law and order, defence and nothing else.

He challenged Starmer to a debate in a working men’s club in the red wall: they should go to a former coal mining area and ask Farage what he thought of the miners’ strike. Then we might find out what Farage means by being “for working people”.

Man Utd close in on Matheus Cunha as Bruno Fernandes decision to be made

The transfer window is almost open with the Club World Cup creating an emergency, short-term window — though clubs not involved in the new Fifa tournament are pushing ahead with plans to strengthen this summer.

Manchester United have an awful lot of work to do in the window after a disastrous season, and Matheus Cunha appears to be the first one through the door, with Wolves set to bank more than £60m for the Brazilian forward. There could also be exits from Old Trafford, though, with captain Bruno Fernandes among those being linked with moves away.

Liverpool are ready to go from strength to strength after winning the Premier League title, with a new striker perhaps on the wish list as right-back Jeremie Frimpong nears a switch to help fill the void left by Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure. A forward to monitor could be Hugo Ekitike, who is also a Chelsea target, with the Eintracht Frankfurt striker one of the hottest properties in European football.

You can sign up to DAZN to watch every Club World Cup game for free, while all the latest updates, rumours and done deals from what promises to be a chaotic transfer window will be covered in the blog below:

SpaceX Starship rocket tumbles out of control and explodes

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship tumbled out of control after a test launch in Texas on Tuesday evening, and both the first-stage Super Heavy booster and rocket exploded before the craft’s planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Fuel leaks on the unmanned rocket caused it to spin uncontrollably before its planned re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.

SpaceX confirmed that the rocket broke apart during re-entry, which it again euphemistically termed as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” SpaceX said in a statement. “Teams will continue to review data and work towards our next flight test.”

The mammoth 400-foot Starship rocket was successfully launched into sub-orbit from its Starbase in Texas at 6.36pm local time, but it was unable to deploy its payload – eight mock Starlink satellites – when the rocket door failed to fully open as the flight went awry about 30 minutes after launch.

“We are in a little bit of a spin. We did spring a leak in some of the fuel tank systems inside of Starship,” SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the company’s livestream as the flight began to come undone.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement later that the agency was “aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX Starship Flight 9 mission … and is actively working with SpaceX on the event.” The FAA said there were “no reports of public injury or damage to public property at this time.”

It was the third straight major problem in a Starship launch that SpaceX has repeatedly characterized as a valuable learning experience. Starship rockets also exploded in January and March after about ten minutes into launch on each occasion.

“Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review,” Musk said in a post on X after the Starship disintegrated.

He noted: “Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent.”

Musk vowed that Starship launches will be increased to about one every three to four weeks.

SpaceX again put a positive spin on the accident.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary,” the company wrote in a post on X.

Tuesday’s mission was the ninth test launch of a Starship rocket.

SpaceX has previously successfully launched Starship into space, and the rocket has splashed down into the ocean as planned. Giant robotic arms have also caught the craft’s rocket booster stage, which is supposed to be reusable, on Starship’s return to Earth.

The latest failure comes amid mounting problems for Musk, the richest human in the world, as President Donald Trump seems to have edged him aside after Musk’s hugely controversial federal contract, service and jobs cuts as part of his Department of Government Efficiency.

His surging unpopularity in the U.S. and around the world is seriously damaging his Tesla brand. Tesla vehicle sales in Europe plunged 49 percent last month over April of 2024 even as sales of electric cars are surging.

SpaceX has received more than $19 billion from the federal government since 2008 and is reportedly poised to collect several billion dollars more for years to come.

Appeal to find two lucky winners of shared £4.8 million Lotto prize

The National Lottery is hunting for two lucky winners of a shared £4.8 million jackpot.

One lucky player scooped the £3.8 million Lotto jackpot in Saturday’s draw – but has yet to claim.

Four players won £1 million after matching five out of six numbers plus the bonus ball – three have been claimed with just one lucky player still to come forward.

The winning numbers were 09, 12, 13, 26, 38, 40 and the bonus number was 04.

A set of balls eight and the draw machine Guinevere were used.

National Lottery organiser Allwyn has urged the two winners to check their tickets to claim.

In addition to Saturday’s draw, last Wednesday’s saw two players share the £2 million jackpot.

Four players also matched five main numbers and the bonus ball to win a guaranteed £1 million. All four of these prizes have been claimed.

Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at Allwyn, said: “My colleagues and I have a busy week planned getting out and about to meet and pay all of the eleven new Lotto millionaires. Huge congratulations to the nine players who have claimed and I hope the rest of you are checking your tickets as we still have two big winners to come forward.

“Seeing £1M land in a player’s bank account is always a joy, knowing how it will transform both their life and the lives of the people closest to them. I can’t wait to hear all their amazing stories.”

Two players bagged the top prize in Lotto HotPicks on Saturday, which uses the same numbers as the Lotto draw.

They matched five of five numbers to win £350,000 each.

The winning Thunderball numbers were 14, 15, 26, 29, 37 and the Thunderball number was 08.

No one matched all five numbers and the Thunderball number to scoop the top prize, but one ticket-holder matched five to win £5,000.

Wednesday’s estimated Lotto jackpot is £2 million.

AI-powered robot salesperson could be coming to UK showrooms

Robots powered by AI could soon be selling cars to customers in the UK as a global car manufacturer debuts an unusual new member of staff.

Omoda and Jaecoo owner Chery has showed off robotic sales assistant ‘Mornine’ at the Shangai Motor Show on 23 April. It can greet customers, show them around a car, and even make them a tea or coffee.

The AI robot uses machine learning to improve its performance, learning from interactions with customers. It has been trialled in showrooms in Malaysia and could soon be rolled out worldwide, a spokesperson for Chery said.

The car maker added that Mornine has capabilities including perception, cognition, decision making and task execution and explained the “ideal use case” was for “dealer-level admin and service.”

The car brand’s robotics experts said Mornine uses speech and vision inputs that allow it to “accurately interpret commands including physical gestures”.

Ian Wallace, spokesperson for Chery’s Omoda and Jaecoo brands in the UK, said Mornine could even be offered for use in people’s homes in the future if showroom trials go well.

He said: “Mornine is an intelligent showroom aid. She can show customers around a vehicle, she can answer questions and she can make teas and coffees, so in a busy showroom environment, if staff are tied up, she’s there to be a helpful face of the brand.

“She has learning capabilities so she can react to commands and learn your voice so if you were to use her in a household environment she would start to learn what you like and don’t like.”

Chery said the robot uses ‘automotive-grade hardware’ to allow it to walk upright and it has ‘dexterous hands’ to allow it to grip items. It can also distinguish between voices to identify different customers.

The car maker also showcased a robotic dog called ‘Argos’ at the Shanghai show. They say the AI-powered animal is designed to offer companionship to those who are unable to keep real pets at home.

New Covid variant spreading from Asia now surges across US

The new Covid variant is continuing to proliferate around the U.S. — although you might not know it by just checking federal variant-tracking dashboards.

Known as NB.1.8.1, the omicron variant has been tracked in states across the country following a large surge in China. Although, right now, LP.8.1 — a descendent of JN.1 — is the nation’s dominant strain.

The Centers for Disease Control is in regular contact with international partners, and is aware of reported NB.1.8.1 cases in China, an agency spokesperson told The Independent. There have been too few U.S. sequences reported thus far for the variant to be included in its dashboard.

But, in Asia, it’s resulted in increased hospitalizations and emergency room visits. So, what should Americans know about NB.1.8.1, and how worrying is its spread? Here’s what to know.

NB.1.8.1 has been designated a SARS-CoV-2 variant under monitoring, with increasing proportions globally, according to the World Health Organization. There are currently six tracked by the agency.

It’s spread throughout 22 countries. In the U.S., it has been traced to New York, California, Arizona, Ohio and Rhode Island, according to records from local health officials at the CDC’s airport testing partner Ginkgo Bioworks.

While still low in numbers, the WHO noted that there had been a significant rise in its prevalence from late March to April.

The public health risk posed by this variant is evaluated as low at the global level.

“Despite a concurrent increase in cases and hospitalizations in some countries where NB.1.8.1 is widespread, current data do not indicate that this variant leads to more severe illness than other variants in circulation,” the WHO said.

But, while it may not be particularly severe, may infect people more easily than previous variants. There is some evidence that the variant binds more tightly to human cells.

“Data indicates that NB.1.8.1 does not lead to more severe illness compared to previous variants, although it appears to have a growth advantage, suggesting it may spread more easily,” Subhash Verma, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, told CBS News this week. “In other words, it is more transmissible.”

Yes, our currently-approved Covid shots are expected to remain effective against this variant and protect against severe disease.

However, access to the vaccines is being limited by the Trump administration. On Tuesday, health officials said the Covid vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women had been removed from the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule. The Food and Drug Administration said last week that it will continue to approve updates for seniors and Americans with underlying medication conditions. However, it will require vaccine makers to conduct major new clinical trials before approving them for wider use.

Although the number of Covid-related hospitalizations and deaths has fallen considerably since the pandemic’s start, experts worry about what limiting access to vaccines could do.

“Is the pharmacist going to determine if you’re in a high-risk group?” Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Associated Press. “The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available.”

For now, people can still get the shots.

Donald Trump pardons reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley

Donald Trump has reportedly pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley.

The multimillionaire couple, whose show Chrisley Knows Best ran from 2014 to 2023, were convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud in 2022.

According to People, President Trump called their children to tell them: “It’s a terrible thing but it’s a great thing, because your parents are going to be free and clean. I hope we can do it by tomorrow.”

The Independent has approached the Chrisley family for comment.

Todd Chrisley and his wife, Julie, were found guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans in 2022. Prosecutors said the couple walked away from their responsibility for repayment when Todd Chrisley declared bankruptcy.

They also were both found guilty of tax evasion and conspiring to defraud the IRS, while Julie was convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, and Todd Chrisley got 12 years behind bars. The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution. The couple have been appealing their case since being sentenced in November 2022.

Todd has been serving his sentence at a minimum security federal prison camp and previously had a release date of June 2032, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Julie is at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, and was not set to be released until April 2028.

The couple are known to be longtime Trump supporters.

In February, Todd Chrisley’s attorney claimed that guards at FPC Pensacola removed a MAGA (Make America Great Again) sticker from his cell. At the time, Chrisley’s lawyer Jay Surgent said he was hopeful Trump would soon grant him a pardon.

“It will be up to President Trump to review their cases,” Surgent told TMZ at the time. “Todd has faith he will be given due consideration because he feels that he never received constitutional protections in a fair criminal justice system.”

Last October, Surgent revealed to The Independent that Chrisley had been fired from his job in prison because of interactions with fellow inmates, though he offered few details.

Surgent said Chrisley had an administrative role in the prison chapel as an assistant to the Chaplain, helping with “the set-up for religious procedures for various religious affiliations that are Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.”

He lost his job and access to his small office because he “was speaking with various inmates” who were a part of the prison’s Residental Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), Surgent said. He claimed Chrisley “wasn’t even given any reason for” why he was dismissed from the position after two years.

Surgent shared his belief that prison officials didn’t want Chrisley to be associated with inmates in the RDAP because they “get to go out into the community during the day and work,” while sleeping at the facility at night.

He also noted that Chrisley “has a history of reporting problems that exist in his institution in Pensacola,” which is why the attorney believes that prison officials didn’t want him to speak to these inmates.